CHAPTER II

LINGUISTIC MINORITIES AND THEIR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION

Nine-tenth of the total Indian

population speaks either of the fourteen languages,

which may therefore, be

The fourteen languages
as called as Majorities*
Linguistic majorities
These also include speakers

of Urdu, constituting 5*31 per cent of the entire

population and ranking sixth among the language groups.

Thus, though Urdu has got no home region where it is

more dominant than other language groups, it has been

included in Majority languages. However, it is not a

state language in any part of the country. Leaving

aside Urdu, all the remaining thirteen speeches have

been recognised as state languages in the Eighth

Schedule of Indian Constitution. Hindi has been shared

Though Naganese has been recognised as the state

language of Nagaland, it is not taken into considera-
tion firstly because it is very insignificant as a
minority language and secondly, it has been included
in Assamesd in the Census of 1961, on which the
present work has been based.

15
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 16

as the state language by Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,

Bihar, Hariana and Himachal Pradesh. The other state

languages are : Telugu (Andhra Pradesh), Bengali (West

Bengal), Marathi (Maharashtra), Tamil (Tamilnadu),

Gujarati (Gujarat), Kannada (Karnataka), Rajasthani

(Rajasthan), Malayalam (Kerala), Oriya (Orissa), Punjabi

(Punjab), Assamese (Assam) and Kashmiri (Jammu and

Kashmir) (Map 1 ) . The speakers of Urdu are found in

largest number in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

but even in these states, they have been surpassed by

those of Hindi, As a result, though Urdu ranks as one

of the major languages by its number of speakers, it has

not been a state language anywhere in the country.

A general study of Map 1 would

reveal that the Indo-Aryan family of languages occupies

a wide geographical area extending from 15° N. latitude

to 33° N. latitude. It extends nearly over the entire

northern and central parts of the country. Dravidian

languages are spoken in South India in an area extend-

ing between 8° N. - 20° N. latitude and 74° B. - 85° B.

longitude. Kashmiri is the only member of the Dardic

family in India . Therefore, this family is confined

only to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Let us now consider the geographical

extents of the home states of the thirteen major

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution V

language. Hindi is spoken over the widest geographical

area covering a little more than one third of the total

area of the country. The home region of Hindi, thus* has

got an area of more than one million sq. km. At the othe:

extreme, Malayalam has the smallest area as its home stet<

covering about 39,000 sq. km. which is about 4 % of that

of Hindi. The population of these thirteen language

groups also differ widely. Hindi is spoken by 33 % of

the entire population (1971) of India, whereas Assamese

forms only 1 ?-. These points should be borne in mind

while studying these language groups as minorities. The

following diagram shows the percentage of speakers of eacl

language to the total population of our country:

I-Tamil
Y-Malayalam
S-Kashmiri

Fig.1
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 18

In this figure, except I, Y and S, the letters represent

the first letter of the respective languages. Since the

letter , T* has been appropriated for Telugu, the letter

'I' has been selected to represent Tamil. Some justifi-

cation for this can be claimed from the general

preference for 'ai' endings of place-names, witness for

example, 'Chennai' for Madras, 'Tanjai' for Tanjore,

'Kovai' for Coimbatore, 'Nellai* for Tirunelveli,

'Nagai* for Nagappattinam etc. Similarly, the sound *Y'

is used very frequently alongwith *u* in Malayalam,

especially while making past-participles like 'poy'

(gone), *chey' (did or made), 'gay' (found),*paray'

(said) and so on. 'S* is the only letter in the word

•Kashmiri' which has not been used for any other tongue

and therefore, has been selected to represent that

language•

Taken together, these fourteen

languages account for 90 # of the total population of

the country. Leaving aside Urdu, they are spoken by

majorities in their home states and thus enjoy the

status of majority as well as state languages. The

following discussion relates to each of these languages

as a minority language in the rest of the country out-

side the home state. The term 'Linguistic minority'

has been defined in general so as to make it clear.

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 19

The fourteen language groups as linguistic minorities :

The proportion of a majority language

group in the total population of an area gradually falls

down as a rule from the core towards the margins of its

home region. Outside the home state, this proportion

rapidly falls below 50 $ and
Linguistic minority;
Definition another language group becomes

more dominant. The former,

thus, becomes minor as compared to the latter and it is

then called a minority. Therefore, the term 'linguistic

minority' of a state may be defined in general as a

group of speakers of a language forming either less than

50 $ of the total population of an area or less than the

proportion of the majority language where the majority

language group itself forms less than 50 $. The

constituent states of our country have been formed on

the basis of linguistic majority, for example, all

villages having more than 50 % of their total popula-

tion speaking Oriya have been included in the state of

Orissa. But it is obvious that the speakers of this

language are not strictly confined to the home state.

They are also found in areas outside Orissa. There,

they form only a small fraction of the total population

of those regions and thus become a linguistic minority.

In some exceptional cases in a few regions, however, the

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 20

speakers of a language are found in majority outside the

home state e.g. it would seem paradoxical that Telugu

minority forms 53 # (55 # - 1971) of the district popula-

tion of Kolar in Karnataka state. But leaving aside such

exceptions, the majority language areas having continuity

of geographical conditions, mainly physiographic, have

been put together to form the various states. The

historical factors have also been taken into considera-

tion. Since long, Kolar has been a part of the Earnataka

state and the large number of Telugu speakers is only the

result of recent movement of unskilled and semi-skilled

workers from Andhra Pradesh towards the gold field area.

In general, the proportion of various minorities of out

country varies from 0.0 to 49.9 J» of the population of

respective regions. A general discussion about the

factors leading to the formation of linguistic minorities

would make the concept more clear.

Though the boundaries of linguistic

states of India have been delimited chiefly on the

principle of linguistic majority of the areas, on

account of considerable amount of intermingling of

languages near the borders, it is inevitable that some

arbitrariness is involved in fixing them. The language

boundaries are always indistinct because, the geographica

distribution of any language is a result of historical,

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 21

geographic, economic and cultural factors. If the

languages spoken in areas adjoining each other belong to

one single family, as it is the case with Indo-Aryan

languages, the boundaries are still more difficult to be

defined. Even in case of languages descending from two

different sources, one finds a great amount of inter-

mixture of languages in the border zones, which make it

difficult to draw the lines of separation between them.

In the border regions, both languages influence each

other and the groups exchange ideas, customs and manners

resulting in more or less composite culture.

The following table gives the total

number of speakers of each of the founteen languages

staying outside their home state as minorities. These

figures are for the country as a whole and have been

arranged in a descending order.

Table i

Number of speakers staying outside the home state

No. Language Minority p8pulation

1 Urdu 23,323,518
2 Hindi 18,417,971
3 Telugu 6,733,234
4 Bengali 4,453,011
5 Rajasthani 3,547,001
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 22

No. Language Minority population

6 Punjabi 3,470,870

7 Marathi 3,007,858
8 Tamil 2,546,551
9 Karmada 2,044,074
10 Gujarati 1 ,631 , 7 4 2
11 Oriya 1,275,800

12 Malayalam 950,042

13 Assamese 19,194

14 Kashmiri 18,298

Urdu ranks first among the

minorities with its more than twenty-three million

speakers widely distributed over various parts of India.

But it should be borne in mind that Urdu has got no

home state and therefore is a minority everywhere in the

country. Its absolute number of speakers concides with

the total population as minority. Hindi follows Urdu

with its about fourteen million speakers staying outside

the home region. These two minority language groups

together constitute about 70 $ of the total linguistic

minority population of about 54 millions. Telugu

minorities lead among the Dravidian languages with about

seven million speakers. Bengalis are the next dominant

minorities of our country and number about a little less

than four and a half million. Next in the order of

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 23

importance is Rajasthani to which belong the Marwari

community. It is known for its widespread distribution

and dominance in retail trade. Punjabi is also

significant for far and wide spread. Its importance as

a minority language group may be appreciated by compar-

ing the total population of Punjabis inside the home

state and outside. As a whole, Punjabis form 2 ^ of

the entire population of our country, whereas as a

minority group, they account for 5 $> of the total minor-

ity language population. Punjabi is followed by Marathi

with a little lesser number. Tamil and Kannada stand

next in this order. Gujarati out-migrants are welknown

over the country for their special role in whole sale

trade. The speakers of Oriya are found in quite large

numbers outside their home state as compared to the total

minority population which has immigrated to Orissa. The

Oriya out-migrants number more than a million while the

in-migrants have been enumerated to about some thousands.

The total of the minority group of Malayalam is a little

less than a million. Assamese and Kashmiri are least

significant both as majority as well as minority

language groups of our country.

The above order is changed if the

relative proportions of speakers of these languages

inside and outside their home states are considered

r cu a>
*-*
u (XI
»-J
•-J
..-J
L in 1/1
OJ Assamese
.
a> CD

O E E1
sz Kashmir/
u QJ
Q. j.:
=J in
QJ QJ
O cu '••'J
88 Malayalam
..., ' - • ' :

'in - . •

QJ r O
CJ1
c o ~r*?rTTi

ro i Gujarati r
- : •

CD ...
c
• -

c:
QJ GJ 5 n .
1/1
Onya
in <
r
c:
s£2! Tamil
- — 1

c C
—- 2 o
c CD QJ

1^4 Hindi
c
D
c. O o
o
a. r.
-

c
-•

CL
QJ S5R3
QJ 2 Marat hi
- 1
... QJ
QJ
1 •
>
:_
•r- rsj E& Kannada

Bengali

Telugu If!
CL

o
Rajasthani CD

-yrr^r,f«—y<-
QJ
t

Punjabi

CD
C
r;
Urdu
c
•J

G 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
o (7) 00 r~v CD u~i -J m <-si ^
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 24

(Graph 1 ) . Here also Urdu ranks first as it has got no

home state and therefore, all Urdu speakers are to be

considered as minority in every part of the country.

In this respect, Urdu may be considered distinct from

other minorities. Among the language groups having home

states, when we consider in this respect, interesting

features may be noted. Here, Hindi does not lead the

list of minority languages though it ranks first in total

numbers among the minorities other than Urdu. If we

consider the relative proportion of speakers of minority

languages outside the home states and the strength of

respective language groups inside the home regions,

Punjabi heads the list, even though in total numbers

the speakers of this language form only 5 J» of the

minority population of the country and only 2 # of the

entire population. It is quite remarkable that 30 %

of the total Punjabi population resides outside the

state of Punjab. Rajasthani follows Punjabi with

similarly high proportion of the minority in its total

population. Out of about 5 speakers of Rajasthani,

one stays outside Rajasthan. Rajasthani minority

mainly consists of Marwaris who are found in remote

parts, even in villages o* our country as small retail-

ers and money lenders. Telugu occupies fourth place

with 18 £ of its total population found outside Andhra

Pradesh. It is again followed by Bengali as in the

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 25

respect of total minority population (Table 1 ) . Though,

the total number of Marathi minority is greater than

that of Kannada, the former is surpassed by the latter

if one considers their respective proportions to the

total strength of respective language groups. 13 f> of

the Kannada population stays outside Karnataka, while

the proportion for Marathi ie 9 ^. Hindi has the same

percentage as that of Marathi. As compared to the

total Hindi population, a relatively small number of

its speakers stay outside its home region. But it

should be taken into account that the entire Hindi

population itself is much larger than that of other

language groups. In relative proportions, Punjabi,

Telugu, Bengali, Kannada and Marathi surpass Hindi.

Tamil, Oriya and Gujarati have same proportions

accounting 8 $ each. The speakers of Malayalam

contribute about 2 $ of the total population of India.

But as a minority language, it is significant in the

sense, that 6 $ of its total number of speakers are

found outside Kerala. Kashmiri and Assamese lag

considerably behind all others with the former having

only 1 % of its total number of speakers staying out-

side the state of Jammu and Kashmir, while the latter

with almost a negligible proportion residing outside

Assam, Though Assamese surpasses Kashmiri in the

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 26

absolute number of speakers found outside the home

region, it is surpassed by Kashmiri if their relative

proportions as minority groups to the total strength

of the respective language groups are considered. The

probable reasons which account for the relative

insignificance of these two linguistic minorities as

compared to the other groups have been explained in the

next chapter.

Thus, the following two orders of

significance are found among the fourteen minority

groups if they are looked at with two different

aspects. These orders may be compared with the total

number of speakers of these languages in the country.

Table 2

A : The order of significance on the basis of the total

number of speakers in the country (Fig. 1)

1 : The order of significance based upon total minority

population of each language (Table 1)

2 : The order of significance based upon relative

proportions of minorities to the total strength of

the language group (Graph 1)

A 1 2
(Fig.1 ) (Table 1) (Graph 1)
1. Hindi Urdu Urdu
2. Telugu Hindi Punjabi
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 27

A
(Fig.1) (Table 1 ) (Graph 1)

3• Bengali Telugu Rajasthani

4. Marathi Bengali Telugu

5. Tamil Rajasthani Bengali

6. Urdu Punjabi Kannada

7. Gujarati Marathi Marathi

8* Kannada Tamil Hindi

9• Malayalam Eannada Tamil,

Oriya,
Gujarati

10. Oriya Gujarati Malayalam

11. Rajasthani Oriya Kashmiri

12. Punjabi Malayalam Assamese

13• Assamese Assamese

14. Kashmiri Kashmiri

Urdu stands first in the total

minority population and all of its speakers are included

in this as there is no home state. Punjabi and Rajastha-

ni surpass Telugu if the relative proportions inside and

outside the home are considered. Telugu is spoken by the

second largest number of the entire population of the

country. In the list 1 i.e. total minority population,

it follows Hindi as in the list A. But it has fourth

order of significance in the list based upon relative

proportions. In list 2, seven language groups surpass

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 28

Hindi. But it should be borne in mind that the total

Hindi population is much larger than any of these groups

and so it is in no way less significant even if a

relatively smaller proportion is found outside the home

region. In the same list, Punjabi and Rajasthani

surpass Hindi, Telugu and Bengali while Zannada scores

over Marathi. The Oriya emigrants may even be compared

with those of Punjabi, in the sense that though their

absolute number as a minority group is lesser than

Tamil and Gujarati, it is of the same order of signifi-

cance if the criterion of relative proportion to the

total strength is applied. Marathi has almost the same

order of importance in the second and the third list.

The Rajasthani and Punjabi minoriti-

es should be specially considered in context to their

total strength. Rajasthani forms only 3 $> of the total

Indian population but as a minority, it stands at the

fifth place in total minority population and third in

the list of ranking of the groups according to their

proportion outside the home state. Punjabi is still

more significant because this groups forms hardly 2 $

of the entire population of the country but as a

minority,it follows Rajasthani and in relative propor-

tion, it even surpasses that group. All these facts

may be explained as the results of following causes:

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 29

The large scale emigration of

Rajasthani and Telugu population is probably due to the

precarious conditions of climate in their home regions.

These people can adjust themselves in any region of the

country and are vexry hard working. Among Rajasthanis,

Marwaris have a special preference for retail trade.

Because they can adjust themselves anywhere, they are

found even in remote villages. The Telugu 'Vadare'

have monopolized the occupation of stone breaking,

especially in Maharashtra and are always preferred to

local labour. The spread of Urdu, Hindi and Marathi

minorities is mainly due to the historical incidences.

Punjabis and Bengalis have out-migrated on account of

instable conditions of life at their homes specially

during the pre-independence and post-independence period

(1940-1950). In case of other minorities which include

Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, Malayalam,Oriya, Assamese as

well as the above-mentioned groups, economic opportuniti-

es offered by industrial and commercial centres have

greatly encouraged the outward movement.

So far, the significance of these

minority groups has been discussed by taking into

account their total population found outside the home

regions in the country as a whole. Their statewise

distribution would be greater interest, for it

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 30

reveals the relative importance of various states

receiving the minority population. As a rule, every

minority is more dominant in the neighbouring states of

its home region and gradually becomes less dominant in

remote areas. Dr. Zachariah has stated in his work 'A

historical study of internal migration in the Indian

Sub-continent,1901-1 931 ' that 'short distance migration

almost universally constitutes the major component of

the total population movement in India on account of

poor transportation system and low education level'•

But it has been mentioned as a universal rule by

Ravenstein in his theory of migration that 'the great

body of migrants only proceed a short distance'. In

our country, the movement of people is becoming more and

more prominent with the economic and cultural develop-

ment of various parts of India.

Graph 2 presents the total population

of each linguistic minority in each state of our country,

both arranged in descending orders. Accordingly, the

state of Rajasthan has the

Statewise distribution
of largest minority population.
Linguistic minorities Hindi forms the largest portion

of this and probably includes Urdu. There is some amount

of ambiguity in the Census figures in this case (ref:

Census of India, 1961, Vol.1, II-C(ii),p.xxii). The

 IE

Statewise distribution
Bi of
Linguistic minorities

I - Tamil
Y - Malayaiam
Other letters represent
first letters of the respective
language names
.-•
.a
T
A

Million speakers

1 Orissa
& <er;
5$ R S
u mis
tH1
ihra Pradesh
T i
_
0
M
Bengai
h Madhy a Pradesh
• • :

•a r Assam
o 0

0
PS
M 0
H
N
in-
§5=
u
Guja-
R
D Jammu rat
and
_LL \

m
n
'aczHrrwr
KG , c*
H
;D3 tR : ,H
M
H :N3
!"ri
U
I
.sthani -not included
 Million speakers
1

P
7\ u
1 Including Hindi

6*1 H
2 Excluding Hindi
I
N
n

1-
2
P

Rajasthan

Graph 23- Lingistic minorities of

Rajasthan
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 31

state of Uttar Pradesh accounts for the second largest

minority population which is enumerated to about 8.5

million. Urdu is the only dominant language group

constituting about 93 % of the total population of minor-

ities (about 8 million). The other minorities together

form only 7 %, in which Punjabi accounts for more than

one-half i.e. 4 f> and Bengali for 1 $>. The rest of the

minority groups including Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and

others together form the remaining 2 # of the total

minority population. This means that excluding Urdu,

Punjabi and Bengali, the minorities have almost a

negligible proportion in this state. As a language,

Urdu is not much different from Hindi and therefore is

not a stranger in Uttar Pradesh where Hindi is the

majority language. This matter has been dealt with in

greater details in the fourth chapter. Punjabis are

found in large numbers because Uttar Pradesh is a

neighbouring state of Punjab. The other minorities

have a very little scope to immigrate in this state as

it is one of the thickly populated regions in the country.

Besides this, the adjoining states of Madhya Pradesh

lying to the south and Bihar to the east have Hindi as

their majority language. Consequently, Uttar Pradesh

becomes a remote state for the minorities migrating,

especially from south. The studies in migration

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 32

reveal that Uttar Pradesh had been an area of heavy out-

migration during 1901-31 » when many people migrated from

this state to the capital city of Delhi and to Punjab.

The national capital was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi

in 1911* This encouraged westward movement* Many

migrants were attracted to the areas of Punjab where

irrigation was being developed during this period. A

large number of emigrants proceeded to the Bombay

industrial area. Thus, economic opportunities else-

where favoured the out-migration (Zachariah, I, p. 200).

The similar type of movement might have resulted in a

large amount of immigration of Hindi and Urdu population

in various parts of the country. In Greater Bombay, for

instance, Hindi minority was doubled in number during

1911-61 (Census of India, 1961, I, II-C(ii),p. xci).

This explains that the state of Uttar Pradesh is rather

a contributor of minorities than being a receiver.

Maharashtra and Karnataka - Leading receivers of

Linguistic minorities

If we leave aside the influence of

Hindi in Rajasthan and Urdu in Uttar Pradesh which

account for these states heading the list of largest

minority population areas, the states of Maharashtra and

Karnataka would appear to receive a larger number and a

 linguistic minorities : General distribution 33

greater variety of outside language groups and thus stand

out dominantly as the leading recipients of linguistic

minorities.

Much has been said about the linguis-

tic parochialism of Marathi speakers and their agitation

for unilingualism at the time of States' Reorganization

in 1956. In spite of these facts, Maharashtra is* at

present , the leading recipient of

Maharashtra
linguistic minorities as Bombay is

the commercial capital of the country. Maharashtra has

been bordered by Gujarati on the north-west, Hindi on

the north and east, Telugu on the south-east and Kannada

on the south. As a result, a larger number of speakers o

these neighbouring languages have immigrated in this

centrally located state of the country* Even the

members of remote language groups like Punjabi, Bengali,

Tamil and Oriya are found in considerable numbers, Urdu

and Hindi minorities are spread widely over the state.

Kannada, Telugu and Gujarati speakers are more numerous

along the respective border regions while Bengali,

Punjabi, Malayalam speakers concentrate in urban areas.

In general, the more dominant minorities are distributed

widely over rural and urban areas due to their large

population, whereas the minorities having smaller number

cluster around cities for jobs in industries. This is

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 34

mainly true about Bombay and Poona, In total numbers,

Urdu is followed by Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu,

Tamil and Malayalam in order.

Telugu dominates among the minoriti-

es of Karnataka because, of all the neighbouring states,

Andhra Pradesh shares the largest boundary with this

state. There are no physiographic

Karnataka
barriers between these two states.

Consequently, easy communication had led to close cont-

act* Besides this, Kannada and Telugu are the only

languages in Bravidian family, having nearly identical

soript. A comment made in the first part of second

-volume of Mysore Gazetteer, 1930 upon the oo-existence

of Telugu with Kannada may be noted in this context:

'Besides Telugu and Kannada
having a common alphabet these two languages have
had a long and continuous intercourse with each
other. They have been co-existing in practically
the same areas, they being separated by no geo-
graphical barrier. Their territories have been
subject to a common or allied sovereignty.'
(p. 443)

Urdu is the second significant

minority language of Karnataka* Its dominance is due to

the fact that this region was under Muslim rule since

fifteenth century. Similarly, the significance of

Marathi is the result of Maratha rule during the 17-18th

century. These three languages have been followed by

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 35

Tamil and Malayalam. The speakers of Gujarati are also

found in large numbers. As compared to Maharashtra,

Bengali is less significant in the state of Karnataka,

the probable reason being linguistic affinities between

Bengali and Marathi and the absence of the same between

Bengali and Kannada. It is remarkable that Marathi

minority outnumbers that of Tamil in this state.

Urdu ranks first among the

minority languages of Bihar as in Uttar Pradesh, It has

been followed by Bengali, Oriya and Punjabi* Urdu

contributes the major portion (about

Bihar
16 $>) of the total minority popula-

tion* Bengali accounts for about 23 % while Oriya,

Punjabi and others together form less than 1 fa. Thus,

Urdu and Bengali may be considered the most dominant

minorities of Bihar, Among the speakers of remote

language groups, Punjabis are more numerous than

Gujarati, Telugu and Tamil. Therefore, though the

total minority population is large, this state has only

four significant minorities, namely, Urdu, Bengali,

Oriya and Punjabi. The mining and industrial areas of

Singhbhum and Ranchi districts have attracted invariably

all minorities coming from remote areas. Bengali is

more dominant in the eastern part of the state while

Urdu is widely spread over the whole of the state*

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 36

Tamilnadu ranks next to Bihar in the

total population of speakers of minority languages.
Telugu dominates the minorities of this state like Urdu
dominating those of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar* Kannada
follows Telugu while Urdu is placed at the third rank.
Telugu forms about 63 $ of the total minority popula-
tion whereas Kannada forms about
Tamilnadu
15 #• Urdu contributes a little
less than Kannada i.e. about 12 $. Malayalam accounts

for 8 % and has been scored over by Urdu. The rest of

the minorities including Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and

others together form less than 2 $ of the total minor-

ity population in the state.

Andhra Pradesh has a smaller

minority population but has a greater variety of minor

languages than Uttar Pradesh. Bihar and Tamilnadu on

Andrei account of its nearly central

1
- location in the country like the

state of Maharashtra. In all, eight languages have

been represented in this state, viz. Urdu, Tamil.

Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Hindi, Gujarati and Malayalam.

Except the last two, these are the neighbouring

languages of Telugu. In the respect of variety of

linguistic minorities, Andhra Pradesh follows

Maharashtra. Still, Urdu is much more dominant than

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 37

other minority groups and contributes about 62 $ of the

total minority population of Andhra. This influence is

due to the Nizam' s rule in this region during 15th-17th

century, The minorities of Tamil and Kannada rank

seoond and third respectively forming 12 $ and 8 #, The

greater linguistic affinities explain why these two are

more dominant in Andhra than Marathi (6 $) and Oriya

(5 $) though they are also the neighbouring languages

of Telugu. Hindi minority is relatively less signifi-

cant and forms 3 $ of the minority population. Gujarati;

Malayalam, Punjabi, Bengali and others together account

for the remaining 3 $>•

Hindi dominates among the linguist-

ic minorities of Vest Bengal and contributes about 40 fi

of the entire minority population in the state. Urdu

accounts for 23 % and stands as the

West
Bengal second significant minority. The
neighbouring language group, namely,

Oriya is also significant and has been followed by

Telugu. Being a border state of India with high

density of population and always exposed to the natural

hazards like floods and cyclones, West Bengal attracts

a relatively small proportion of minorities of our

country. In spite of these facts, a large number of

people speaking outside languages have been attracted

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 38

by the industrial activities in and around Calcutta during

1931-61. Consequently, most of the minorities are found

in Calcutta and its environs with the exception of Urdu,

which is widely distributed over the various parts of

the state* Though Assamese is found in a small number,

the significance of West Bengal lies in that, it is the

sole receiver of this minority group.

Madhya Pradesh is the most centrally

located state of India but it receives a lesser number

and a lesser variety of linguistic minorities than

Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra

Madhya
Pradesh Pradesh* The speakers of Marathi are

most dominant and are followed by

those of Urdu, Oriya, Gujarati and Telugu. Punjabi and

Bengali are represented at the major urban centres. The

dominance of Marathi is confined to those portions of

the state which formerly belonged to the dominion of

Peehwas. Gujaratis are more numerous in western part

while Bengalis and Oriyas in the eastern i.e. in the

respective border regions. Thus, leaving aside Urdu, in

all the remaining four significant minorities , namely,

Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya and Bengali, the effect of

the neighbouring states is clearly seen. The reasons

why, on the whole Madhya Pradesh receives a smaller

portion of the total minority population of the country

 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 39

in spite of its central location may be explained as

follows: Among the seven bordering states of Madhya

Pradesh, two states, namely, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

enclosing the whole of northern and most of the eastern

boundary of Madhya Pradesh have Hindi as their majority

language as in this state* Rajasthani minority is

found in considerable numbers but has been dealt with

separately at the end of this chapter* The northern

and eastern borders being closed, the minority groups

have easy access only from the states of Maharashtra,

Gujarat and Orissa located to the south and south-west

and south-east. Andhra Pradesh shares a small portion

of the boundary with this state. The speakers of Telugu

have penetrated into the southern parts* The central

Indian mountain system might have hindered the northward

movement of people to some extent. Besides this, the

relatively lesser development of Madhya Pradesh in the

industrial sector than its surrounding states is

probably responsible for attracting only a small number

of outsiders*

Bengali is the first significant

minority of the state of Assam, It forms 75 $ of the

total minority population of this state and has been
followed by Hindi, which accounts
Assam
for 18 $ and Oriya contributing
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 40

6 $>• The minorities are attracted mainly to the tea

estates in the state* Bengali. Hindi and Oriya minoriti-

es are widely scattered over the valley of Brahmaputra

whereas others are concentrated in the district of Lakhim-

pur. The remoteness from the rest of the country,

mountainous topography, excessive rainfall and dangers

of floods and also lack of industrial development are

the geographical factors whioh explain the relative

insignificance of this state in reoeiving minorities other

than Bengali, Hindi and Oriya.

Punjabi is the only significant

minority in Jammu and Kashmir, Though Kashmir is called

the heavenly gardenland of India, it has attracted the

least number of migrants other than

Jammu
& that of Punjabi and Hindi. The
Kashmir
rugged topography and extremely cold

olimate are the two detrimental factors in this respect.

Besides this, Kashmiri belongs to the Bardic family of

languages and therefore, is not akin to any language

group of our country. The political instability and

lesser economic opportunities also supplement the above

factors discouraging the minority groups.

Orissa has got even smaller minority

population than Jammu and Kashmir but unlike the latter,

71 : - -q
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 41

it presents a greater variety with Telugu, Urdu, Hindi

and Bengali minorities. The total minority population

is a little less than one million, of which Telugu forms

40 %, Urdu, about 25 $ and Hindi and

Orissa
Bengali, about 15 %> each. As
compared to the other central states of India, Orissa

has received a smaller proportion of the total minority

population of the country probably on account of its

general economic backwardness* The minorities have

concentrated in the mining areas of Sundargarh. Bengali

and Telugu minority groups are represented in the

north-eastern and southern border regions respectively.

In Kerala, the Bravidian language

groups dominate among the minorities. Tamil alone

accounts for four-fifth of the total minority population.

Kannada and Telugu together form

Kerala
15 #• Besides the Dravidian group,

Marathi is represented in considerable numbers which

contribute about 3 ^ of the state's minority population.

Statewise distribution of Rajasthani minorities :

Because Rajasthani has not been

included in Table C-V ( A ) among the majority languages

in the Census of 1961, it has been dealt with here

 Statewise distribution
of
Rajasthani minorities

Million
speakers
2i
Madhya Pradesh

1.
Maharashtra
Andhra Pradesh
Karnataka
J.K.
Bihar Gujarat w.B.
I 1 i 1 i 1

J.K. - Jammu and Kashmir

W.B. - West Bengal
Rajasthani minorities include the speakers of
Malvi, Banjari, Lambhani, Marwari, etc.

Graph 2b
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 42

separately. Of about 15 million speakers of Rajasthani,

four million stay outside Rajasthan and are widely spread

over various parts of the country, Graph 3 shows the

statewise distribution of Rajasthani minorities. Madhya

Pradesh has about 1.6 million speakers of Rajasthani,

mainly speaking the Malvi and Nimadi dialects of that

language* Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have a little

more than half a million speakers each, who speak

Banjari and Lamani dialects* The people speaking these

dialects of Rajasthani are distributed over the Vindhya

and Satpuda mountain ranges and the valleys of Narmada,

Tapi and upper Mahanadi* It is remarkable that

Rajasthani is the first significant minority of Madhya

Pradesh and second only to Urdu in Andhra Pradesh*

Karnataka and the state of Jammu and Kashmir have 0*3

million Rajasthanis* Banjaris being dominant in the

former and Gujari in the latter region* Gujarat has

reeeived a relatively smaller number in spite of its

proximity to Rajasthan. This is only apparent

because probably the Rajasthani immigrants in this

state might have switched over to Gujarati easily on

account of the linguistic affinities between these

two language groups* Among the Rajasthani minorities,

Marwaris are welknown over the entire country for

their special role in retail trade.

ing norities of

spea Punjab
I |U

ana

"P"

H.P
L L.
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 43

The linguistic minorities in the states of

Punjab. Hariana and Himachal Pradesh

Punjab, Hariana and a few districts

of present Himachal Pradesh together formed a single

state of Punjab prior to 1966. Therefore, the data

regarding minorities has been given under two headings,

namely, Punjab state and the Union territory of Himachal

Pradesh, These figures have to be separated district-

wise in order to have the present picture in each of

these states. According to the 1961 Census, Hindi is

the only significant minority of the present state of

Punjab obviously because the state of Hariana was a

part of this state before 1966 and had majority of its

population speaking Hindi* About 4 million speakers of

Hindi reside in various parts of the state of Punjab.

Punjabi and Urdu are the two most

significant minorities of the present state of Hariana*

Punjabi is spoken by a million persons while Urdu is

the mother-tongue of about half a million population*

Punjabi is the only linguistic

minority of Himachal Pradesh and the other language

groups form only a small fraction of the total minority

population* The distribution of linguistic minorities

in these three states has been represented in Graph 2c.
 Linguistic minorities : General distribution 44

The above broad outline of the state-

wise distribution of the various linguistic minorities

would form a general background to the following discuss-

ion of the geographical distribution of e»oh of the

fourteen significant minorities in various parts of the

country and the historical, political, economic and

cultural factors which have been responsible for this

pattern of distribution.

References;

Zachariah, K.C. (1964) J A historical study of inter-

nal migration in the Indian
subcontinent 1901-31,
Monograph - I, pp. 200-1 5•

Ravenstein, E.G. (1969) s Laws of migration (in -

Principles of Demography -
Bogue D.J. f p. 755.)

Mitra, Asok (1967) : Census of India, 1961, ¥bl. I,

Part II C(ii) - Language tables,
pp. 1-88. The manager of pub-
lications, Civil lines, Delhi.

Rao, Hayavadana C.(1937) : Ed. Mysore Gazetteer, 1930 ,

Vol. II, Part I , Historical.

»**